| Warrego Highway | |
| Formerly see other current route numbers below |
|
| Length | 721 km (448 mi) |
| Direction | Northwest - Southeast |
| From | Mitchell Highway, Charleville, Queensland |
| via | Morven, Mitchell, Roma, Miles, Dalby, Toowoomba |
| To | Ipswich Motorway / Cunningham Highway, Ipswich, Queensland |
| Allocation | Mitchell Highway - Landsborough Highway: Landsborough Highway - Ipswich Motorway: |
| Major junctions | Landsborough Highway Carnarvon Highway Leichhardt Highway Moonie Highway Bunya Highway Gore Highway New England Highway Brisbane Valley Highway |
The Warrego Highway is located in southern Queensland, Australia. It connects coastal centres to the south western areas of the state, and is approximately 750 km in length. It takes its name from the Warrego River, which is the endpoint of the highway. The entire highway is part of the National Highway system linking Darwin and Brisbane: formerly National Highway 54, Queensland began to convert to the alphanumeric system much of Australia had adopted in the early-2000s and is now designated as National Highway A2.
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The highway commences at the end of the M2 Ipswich Motorway, near Ipswich, and climbs the Great Dividing Range to Toowoomba. The first section of highway between Ipswich and Toowoomba is motorway grade, a four lane divided highway with motorway-style on-ramps and off-ramps. In the Lockyer Valley the highway is experiencing strip development with a growth in petrol stations and commercial properties.[1]
From Toowoomba, it then crosses the Darling Downs and continues to Charleville where the road is two lanes with many passing lanes along the route.
The Warrego Highway's lowest point along its length is 3.69 m where it crosses the Bremer River near Ipswich, and its highest elevation is 665 m where it crosses the Great Dividing Range as it enters Toowoomba.[2]
From east to west, the highway passes through or close to the cities and major towns of:
On 28 September 2011 the Queensland Main Roads Minister, Craig Wallace, announced that an 85km stretch of the Warrego Highway will be renamed Darren Lockyer Way, in honour of the retired Brisbane Broncos, Queensland and Australian rugby league captain. The section of road to be renamed is from Riverview to the bottom of the Toowoomba Range at Withcott. Special signage including "Welcome to Darren Lockyer Way" will be erected over the next three months.[3]
The section of the Warrego Highway from Withcott to the top of the Toowoomba Range was first opened in January, 1855 as a toll road, named Toll Bar Road.[4] The toll collection point was marked by a bar across the road and a fence on either side. The upper section of Toll Bar Road was initially unsealed and very steep, with grades up to 14%. This road remained in use until December, 1939, when work on a new, less steep, upper section was completed. Part of the upper section is now a suburban street named Old Toll Bar Road.[5] The term "The Toll Bar" is widely used by locals to describe the current road, and it is also used in the mapping software distributed with Navman GPS systems.